SAINTS HOLD ON FOR CRUCIAL ROAD WIN AT MADONNA, 71-70

The Aquinas men’s basketball team completed a big season sweep of Madonna on Saturday afternoon (Jan. 20) in Livonia, Mich., as the Saints survived a potential game-winning jumper on the final possession of the game to win, 71-70. Including AQ’s 70-66 win over the Crusaders on Dec. 2 in Grand Rapids, the Saints won twice over Madonna this year by a total of five points.

Saturday’s victory is the fourth straight for Aquinas, all in WHAC play. The Saints are now 9-4 in conference action and 13-10 overall. Coming into the game tied in the league standings, Madonna drops to 8-5 in the WHAC and 14-8 overall.

AQ appeared to be in control with 3:22 remaining and a 67-58 lead, however Madonna scored seven straight points to make it a 67-65 game with 1:36 to play. On the Saints’ next possession, Rob Deiz (JR/Detroit, Michigan) buried a three-pointer off a Deric Murray (FR/Ann Arbor, Michigan) feed to put Aquinas ahead 70-65.

Madonna responded with a three-pointer of their own and a 70-68 score with 52 ticks to go. Arsenio Arrington (SR/Chicago, Illinois) split two free throws to keep AQ on top 71-68 with 30 seconds to play, but the Crusaders again answered. Jonathan Swift scored on a layup and was fouled with 18 seconds to go. His game-tying free throw, however, was off target, as was the follow-up tip-in attempt.

After a second offensive rebound on that play for the Crusaders – and three timeouts between the two teams – Madonna had one final shot for the win. The long stepback corner jumper was no good and Rashaud Orange (JR/Grand Rapids, Michigan) corralled the rebound to seal the thrilling road win.

Deiz led the Saints offensively, making 8-of-10 shots and 4-of-5 three-pointers for a team-best 20 points, while adding six boards, two assists, and a steal. Arrington reached double-digits again with 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting.

Murray provided nine points, four rebounds, and three assists, while AJ Atwater (SO/Otsego, Michigan) hit a pair of trifectas and scored eight points off the bench. Frank DeVos(JR/Chesterfield, Michigan) pulled down a team-high seven rebounds and Opeyemi Sholesi (SR/Columbus, Ohio) added six points, five rebounds, three assists, and two steals.

As a team, Aquinas shot a stellar 50.9 percent from the field and made 8-of-21 three-pointers. Madonna was not far behind at 48.1 percent on its field goal tries, but was just 5-of-14 from long range. The Crusaders did go 15-of-22 at the stripe, while AQ was 9-of-16.

Madonna led by as many as seven points in the first half, including a 19-12 edge seven minutes into the contest. A layup from DeVos and two Murray free throws helped Aquinas begin to chip away at the deficit. Consecutive jumpers from TJ Hunter (JR/Flint, Michigan) and Murray pulled the Saints within a bucket at 27-25 with 6:01 to go.

Orange would tip-in a missed shot and Deiz drained a three-pointer late in the half to help Aquinas pull even at halftime, 36-36. AQ took its first lead of the game in the second half and went up 41-36 on Hunter’s three-pointer.

A pair of free throws from Sholesi and a Deiz three-pointer made it 46-39 four minutes into the second half. The lead grew to a game-high 10 points at 52-42 on an Atwater trifecta with 14:03 to play. Aquinas would maintain the advantage and stay in front 67-58 after layups from Deiz and Arrington to set up Madonna’s furious comeback in the final minutes.

The four-game winning streak has capped season sweeps of both Lourdes and Madonna and put the Saints into sole possession of third place in the WHAC with the 9-4 tally.

Share this:

Related

Related Articles

I got a chance to get out to the West Michigan International Auto Show at DeVos Place on Friday and was very impressed with all the new model vehicles, the Gilmore Collection and the Million-Dollar Motorway. I met Jeff Striegel from RacingAwareness.com, an organization supporting Helen DeVos Childrens’ Hospital dedicated to enhancing the lives of […]

Share this:

The Grand Rapid Drive have reacquired guard Bruce Massey from the available player pool. Originally drafted by the Springfield Armor (now the Grand Rapids Drive) with the first pick of the eighth round of the 2013 NBA D-League Draft, Massey is a 6-foot-3, 195-pound guard who played his college ball at Middle Tennessee State. Massey is a familiar face […]

Share this:

Every week we’ll check in on the Grand Rapids Griffins and find out what’s going on inside the Van Andel Arena and out on the road throughout the AHL. Here’s our Week 1 report: Just before the start of the season the Red Wings assigned right wing Daniel Cleary and defenseman Xavier Ouellet to the Griffins. The Griffins lost […]